Resuscitating reviews I wrote at festivals that Patreon’s crap search engine wouldn't previously have delivered because the titles weren't in the subject line.
Carolina Caroline (Adam Carter Rehmeier): 65/100 [TIFF '25]
One of y’all kindly offered me a spare ticket for this, which turned out to be a good thing since I never did acquire a ticket to Fernando Eimbcke’s Olmo (with which Caroline overlapped slightly). Starts out exceedingly familiar, and I would argue shoots itself in the foot by opening with what’s actually the ending, so that we more or less know all along (if only by implication of absence) where things are headed. But I dig con-artist narratives, Samara Weaving, and Kyle Gallner, which collectively were enough to keep me engaged until the film finds its own direction, summarized much too bluntly by Caroline’s question “Are we good people pretending to be bad or bad people pretending to be good?” Was unprepared for the raw ugliness of Kyra Sedgwick’s single scene, and appreciate that it doesn’t ever exactly make Caroline reassess her choices—merely instills doubt and hence amps up her anxiety. (She should reassess her choice to always keep her bra on during sex, however. Been a while since I’ve seen so much underwear humping.) Final shot acknowledges that she is who she is, and if it hadn’t been Oliver walking into the gas station, it would’ve been something else. Also, I actually bought her tearful farewell to Dad, did not remember how that had been carefully set up an hour-plus earlier, so well done. Oh, and I nearly applauded when she reveals the true purpose of that musty old bar bet. Hard to get truly excited about something so well-worn, but it keeps the beat rock steady.
The Little Sister (Hafsia Herzi): 62/100 [TIFF '25]
A familiar but sensitively handled coming-out tale (adapted from someone’s autobiographical novel), more notable for what it doesn’t do than for what it does. While the protagonist’s a closeted Algerian Muslim, very little of the film’s drama involves wrestling with faith, and her family still doesn’t know when the closing credits roll (though we sense that her mother, who insists her love has no conditions in their deeply moving final scene together, may have her suspicions). Instead, the young woman, Fatima, goes on a bunch of Tinder dates, using aliases (she even claims to be Egyptian, and to have six brothers rather than her actual two older sisters), and struggles to grasp what her desires entail. Her intense relationship with a Korean-born nurse (played by Return to Seoul star Park Ji-min) crashes and burns for reasons unrelated to either of them being gay, and none of the other expected sources of conflict ever really emerge. Which is refreshing even as it ensures that the film remains firmly in second gear throughout. Newcomer Nadia Melliti won Best Actress at Cannes, quite possibly deserved it. (Still lots of Competition films for me to see.)